𝐋𝐄𝐀 𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐌𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐓𝐎 topple Frank over, but the younger boy ended up sprawled across the ground. The mud under their foot clung to his jeans, purple shirt and denim jacket. It didn't help his case that his hands were coated in grease from cleaning weapons.
"I am so sorry!" The blonde began fussing over Frank, who looked incredibly embarrassed but didn't stop her.
"I'm fine," Frank mumbled, climbing to his feet. "I wasn't watching where I was going."
Lea shook her head. Her eyes looked like they were turning into glowsticks again. "Don't be ridiculous, I should've been more careful."
Frank let a half-smile tug at his lips. He was quite fond of Lea; she treated him better than anyone else in camp. The past six weeks had been the longest of his life and it felt like Lea could sense that. The younger boy honestly enjoyed having her fuss about him, it made him feel safe — even if she was only a year his senior.
"Reyna told me to go and rescue Percy from Octavian..." Frank trailed off, jerking his thumb into the distance. He couldn't help but notice the way Lea's eyes glazed over when he said the Praetor's name. "Do you want to come with me?"
"Of course!"
On the way out of camp, Lea bought them a hot chocolate and a cookie from Bombilo, the two-headed coffee merchant. The two demigods didn't speak, instead choosing to walk in comfortable silence.
"Have they been helping?" Lea broke the silence. Her voice was softer than usual and her eyes scanned Frank's face for any hint of emotion.
Therapists weren't really Camp Jupiter's style. The Romans preferred a suck it up, you'll be fine mindset, unfortunately for both Lea and Frank. While gods were few and far between in camp, Lea had somehow convinced her dad to answer her prayers. Twice a month the two demigods were granted permission to leave the valley and across into Berkley. An all-expenses-paid vacation to a psychiatrist's office for an hour each awaited them. Beggers can't be choosers and they were grateful for what they got. The pharmacy in New Rome filled their prescriptions each month leaving them one pill less mentally in a hole.
The Asian boy shrugged. "Well, I haven't thrown myself in front of Hannibal yet."
"I'm taking that as a win." Lea nudged Frank with her elbow, making him chuckle. "I'm proud of you."
"Thanks, Lea," Frank nudged the girl back.
He hesitated as they walked outside the main gates. The fort was situated on the highest point in the valley so they could see pretty much everything. The road led down to the river and divided. One path led south across a bridge, up to the hill with all the temples. The other road led north into the city, a miniature version of Ancient Rome. Unlike the military camp, the city looked chaotic and colourful, with buildings crowded together at haphazard angles. Even from this far away, they could see people gathered in the plaza, shoppers milling around an open-air market, and parents with kids playing in the parks.
"You still planning on abandoning me?" His tone was playful but hid a bubbling uncertainty.
Lea stared over the valley with a sad look in her eyes. "I was never going to abandon you! I was planning on leaving before you even arrived here but I'm still here, amn't I?"
"Maybe you were just waiting for the best time to leave, I mean St Louis is a good distance away." Frank bit into his chocolate cookie as they started moving again. "Not that I want you to leave, I like you."
"Nice save." The blonde chuckled, sipping her drink. "I'm not gonna leave until you're ready," she mumbled the last part under her breath so Frank couldn't hear her.
They began climbing the hill and Frank couldn't help the grin that covered his face.
"Hazel!" Frank shouted up the hill, breaking into a jog.
Frank led Lea to a black crypt built into the side of the hill. Standing in front was a teenage boy in black jeans and an aviator jacket, Hazel in a pair of jeans and a purple t-shirt, and a very filthy-looking Percy Jackson.
"Hey, Nico..." Frank said as they reached the shrine.
"Frank." Nico smiled.
Lea realised she seemed to have missed a memo. She was wearing a pair of black cargo pants with her purple camp shirt. She was the only one not wearing jeans.
"Hey, Nico!" The older girl smiled, sipping her drink. "I didn't know you were visiting, any plans?"
"Yeah, I'm actually gonna murder someone, you know me." Nico's voice was dripping in sarcasm, making Lea chuckle. Percy, on the other hand, looked incredibly panicked. "It's a joke." He clarified.
"You doing alright, Waterboy?" Lea's gaze turned to Percy as she addressed him. "Octavian scar you for life?"
"He slaughtered my panda." Percy looked heartbroken and Lea frowned.
"Oh, no."
Frank shrugged, wiping the crumbs off of his hands. "Yeah, teddy bears must have nightmares about that guy. But you're in! We need to get you cleaned up before evening muster."
"You're right," Hazel said. "We'd better—"
"Frank," Nico interrupted, "why don't you take Percy down? Hazel and I will be along soon."
"That's—that's a good idea," Hazel managed. "Go ahead, guys. We'll catch up."
Percy looked at Nico one more time."I'd like to talk with you some more. I can't shake the feeling—"
"Sure," Nico agreed. "Later. I'll be staying overnight."
"You will?" Hazel blurted. The campers were going to love that—the son of Neptune and the son of Pluto arriving on the same day. Now all they needed was some black cats and broken mirrors.
"Go on, Percy," Nico said. "Settle in." He turned to Hazel. "My sister and I need to talk."
"Do you practice being this ominous in the mirror?" Lea asked, peering at Nico over her cup of hot chocolate. "Or does it come naturally?"
Nico gave no reply, but a single chuckle left his lips.
Lea linked arms with Frank, dragging the boy behind her as she skipped down the hill. Percy hurried after them, not wanting to be left behind with the two children of Pluto who seemed to be having a very intense conversation.
Walking back, Percy had asked tons of questions about Hazel's brother, Nico, but Frank didn't know that much. "He's okay," Frank said. "He's not like Hazel—"
"How do you mean?" Percy asked.
"Oh, um..." Frank coughed.
"Nico is kind of mysterious." Lea injected. "He seems to make everybody else nervous, being the son of Pluto, and all."
"But not you two?"
Frank shrugged. "Pluto's cool. It's not his fault he runs the Underworld. He just got bad luck when the gods were dividing up the world, you know? Jupiter got the sky, Neptune got the sea, and Pluto got the shaft."
The Apollo girl girl nodded in agreement. "The ultimate short straw."
"Death doesn't scare you?"
"Back in the old times, like the Greek times, when Pluto was called Hades, he was more of a death god. When he became Roman, he got more... I don't know, respectable. He became the god of wealth, too. Everything under the earth belongs to him. So I don't think of him as being real scary." Frank said.
"Besides, he isn't the death god, he's the god of the dead. He doesn't kill people, he just looks after them, like a doctor to his patients." Lea commented. She unlinked her arm from Frank in an attempt to leverage the marshmallows out of the bottom of her cup.
Percy scratched his head. "How does a god become Roman? If he's Greek, wouldn't he stay Greek?"
Frank walked a few steps, thinking about that. Vitellius would've given Percy an hour-long lecture on the subject, probably with a PowerPoint presentation, but Frank took his best shot. "The way Romans saw it, they adopted the Greek stuff and perfected it."
Percy made a sour face. "Perfected it? Like there was something wrong with it?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "Rome was more successful than Greece. They made this huge empire. The gods became a bigger deal in Roman times—more powerful and widely known. That's why they're still around today. So many civilizations base themselves on Rome. The gods changed to Roman because that's where the centre of power was. Jupiter was... well, more responsible as a Roman god than he had been when he was Zeus. Mars became a lot more important and disciplined."
"And Juno became a hippie bag lady," Percy noted. "So you're saying the old Greek gods—they just changed permanently to Roman? There's nothing left of the Greek?"
"I think they're still here." Lea had a weird look in her eyes. "Rome was an empire, the Greeks were scattered. I think they still are."
"Uh..." Frank looked around to make sure there were no campers or Lares nearby, but the main gates were still a hundred yards away. "That's a sensitive topic. Some people say Greek influence is still around like it's still a part of the gods' personalities. I've heard stories of demigods occasionally leaving Camp Jupiter. They reject Roman training and try to follow the older Greek style—like being solo heroes instead of working as a team the way the legion does. And back in the ancient days, when Rome fell, the eastern half of the empire survived—the Greek half."
Percy stared at him. "I didn't know that."
"It was called Byzantium." Frank liked saying that word. It sounded cool. "The easter empire lasted another thousand years, but it was always more Greek than Roman. For those of us who follow the Roman way, it's kind of a sore subject. That's why, whatever country we settle in, Camp Jupiter is always in the west—the Roman part of the territory. The east is considered bad luck."
"Huh." Percy frowned.
"It's like a Twix bar. The left side and the right side." Lea spoke knowingly, but both boys stared at her in confusion.
"So..." Percy looked baffled. "We're all chocolate bars?"
"Ultimately, yes."
They had reached the gates.
Well, Percy and Frank did. Lea walked right into them.
"Oh, my gods!" Frank rushed to her. "Are you okay?"
"My ego hurts."
Percy laughed. "What about the egg on your forehead?"
"It's a fashion statement, Waterboy." she snapped back, letting Frank pull her to stand.
"Forgive me, Paris Fashion Week."
"I'll think about it."
"I thought Lea was bad enough by herself." Frank glanced between the other two demigods. "You're both insane."
"Thank you," they replied in unison.
"Right well... we'll take you to the baths to get you cleaned up," Frank said. "But first... about those vials, I found at the river."
"Gorgon's blood," Percy said. "One vial heals. One is a deadly poison."
Frank's eyes widened. "You know about that? Listen, I wasn't going to keep them. I just—"
"I know why you did it, Frank."
"You do?"
"Yeah." Percy smiled. "If I'd come into camp carrying a vial of poison, that would've looked bad. You were trying to protect me."
"Oh... right." Frank wiped the sweat off his palms. "But if we could figure out which vial was which, it might heal your memory."
Percy's smile faded. He gazed across the hills. "Maybe, I guess. But you should hang on to those vials for now. There's a battle coming. We may need them to save lives."
Lea squeezed Frank's hand comfortingly. She assumed his unease was from fear of the impending battle everyone kept mentioning.
"So you don't remember anything?" Frank asked. "Family, friends?" Percy fingered the clay beads around his neck.
"Girlfriend?" Lea asked, making a kissy noise.
"Shut up." Percy rolled his eyes at her. "Only glimpses. Murky stuff."
"What about your family? Is your mom mortal?"
"I guess so... she's probably worried out of her mind. Does your mom get to see you much?"
Frank stopped at the bathhouse entrance. He grabbed some towels from the supply shed. "She died."
Percy knit his brow. "How?"
Usually Frank would lie. He'd say an accident and shut off the conversation. Otherwise, his emotions got out of control. He couldn't cry at Camp Jupiter. He couldn't show weakness. The only person who knew about his mom was Lea.
"You can't just ask someone that!" Lea looked furious, her eyes began to glow again.
"It's okay," Frank squeezed Lea's hand. With Percy, Frank found it easier to talk. "She died in the war," he said. "Afghanistan."
"She was in the military?"
"Canadian. Yeah."
"Canada? I didn't know—"
"Most Americans don't." Frank sighed. "But yeah, Canada has troops there. My mom was a captain. She was one of the first women to die in combat. She saved some soldiers who were pinned down by enemy fire. She... she didn't make it. The funeral was right before I came down here."
Percy nodded. He didn't ask for more details, which Frank appreciated.
Lea rested her head on his shoulder for a second in a search for comfort. There was a mutual understanding between the two demigods. Lea and Frank understood each other better than most and sharing the loss of their mothers only added fuel to that fire.
"How about you show me the baths now?" Percy suggested. "I'm filthy."
Frank managed a smile. "Yeah. You kind of are."
"Ugh, smelly boys." Lea rolled her eyes.
Frank and Percy spoke in unison. "Shut up."